Living a Lie
by Amazing TEEN Authoress
Summary: What if Spencer wasn't the one who was adopted? What if it was Melissa? Join Melissa on the road to the discovery of her adoption and the discovery of who her true parents are.
1. Melissa

Chapter 1

Melissa Hastings was an ordinary girl. She had loving parents, though her younger sister, Spencer, was a bitch. She was constantly trying to win their parents' attention and stealing Melissa's boyfriends. When Spencer was in seventh grade, she'd kissed Melissa's boyfriend, Ian Thomas, and was totally into her incredibly hot current boyfriend-turned-fiancée, Wren Kim. She was keeping a close eye on when she left Wren alone, in case Spencer made a move. She wouldn't let Spencer steal Wren as she'd stolen Ian. Though, the reason they'd broken up was that Ian had moved to California to go to college.

Tonight was extra-special. Melissa was bringing Wren, her fiancée, to meet her parents. Melissa's parents and Spencer were meeting Wren at Moshulu, a restaurant in Philadelphia that Melissa loved, and knew Wren would love.

"You'll just love my parents," Melissa cooed to Wren, who sat in the passenger seat of her car. "They're so sweet and they're so excited to meet you!"

"You've said that four times already," Wren muttered.

Was Wren really not looking forward to meeting her parents? Wren's parents were as different from Melissa's parents as they could get, but who cared? Spencer and Melissa's parents insisted on family dinners _every frickin' night_, but Wren's dad got takeout from a Thai restaurant and ate it in his office, and Mrs. Kim heated leftovers and ate in front of her TV in her bedroom. Wren and his older brother, Max, tried to organize family dinners, usually involving lasagna or burgers. Mr. Kim left halfway through, most of the time, and Mrs. Kim got tired and boxed up her meal so she could eat it after a nap, leaving Wren and Max alone in silence.

"There it is!" Melissa exclaimed, pulling to a stop at the boat-gone-restaurant.

Melissa clung to Wren's arm as she took him into the restaurant. Mr. and Mrs. Hastings, and Melissa's sister, Spencer, were already there.

"Mom!" Melissa called.

"Darling!" Mrs. Hastings cried, pulling Melissa in for a hug.

"Mom, Dad, here's Wren," Melissa said, nodding at her fiancée.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Hastings said hello and shook Wren's hand. Melissa asked a question about where to have the plumber's bill sent, but she was really paying attention to Spencer. Melissa knew Spencer was having a hard time keeping from gaping, and Melissa tried to convince herself that Spencer couldn't help it. Wren _was_ incredibly hot.

"I'm Spencer," Melissa's sister said finally. "The other daughter." She nodded toward the other side of the table. "The one they keep in the basement."

Melissa was now talking about the best wood to use for the living room floor. "Oh." Wren grinned. "Cool."

"Isn't it strange that they haven't asked you a single thing about yourself?" Spencer asked.

"Kinda." Wren shrugged and winked.

Suddenly, Melissa grabbed Wren's hand. "Oh, I see you've met her," Melissa cooed.

"Yeah." He smiled. "You didn't tell me you had a sister." Spencer's stare said, _of course you didn't_.

"So Melissa," Mrs. Hastings said. "Daddy and I were talking about where you might be staying while all the renovations are happening. And I just thought of something. Why not just come back to Rosewood to live with us for a few months? You can commute to Penn, you know how easy it is." Melissa wrinkled her nose.

"Well." Melissa adjusted the strap of her yellow dress. "The thing is… Wren and I are going to be moving into the town house… together."

"Oh!" Her mother smiled. "Well… I suppose Wren could stay with us too… what do you think, Peter?"

"Well, I suppose that's all right," Mr. Hastings said. "It'll certainly be quiet. Mom's in the stable most of the day, and of course Spencer will be in school."

"You're in school?" Wren asked. "Where?"

"She's in high school," Melissa butted in. "Same high school I went to. I never asked, Spence- are you president of the class this year?" Sweet, concerned comments like this always made their parents think that Melissa was on Spencer's side.

"VP," Spencer muttered.

"Oh, aren't you _so_ happy it worked out that way?" Melissa asked.

"No," Spencer said flatly.

"You don't understand, Spence," Melissa said, shaking her head, "It's soooo much work. When I was president, I hardly had time for anything else!"

"You do have quite a few activities, Spencer," Mrs. Hastings agreed. "There's yearbook, and all those hockey games…"

"Besides, Spence, you'll take over if the president, you know… dies." Melissa winked at her and turned back to her parents

"Mom. I just got the best idea. What if Wren and I stayed in the barn? Then we'd be out of your hair."

Spencer sullenly agreed, and left the boat. Wren followed two minutes later. Melissa was suspicious. Was Wren into Spencer? Melissa would do everything in her power to make sure he wasn't. She couldn't lose another boyfriend to Spencer. Not right now.


	2. Melissa's Discovery

**I'm back with another chapter of Melissa's story! Enjoy!**

Melissa watched Spencer leave Dr. Evans' office, and Melissa entered. "Hello, Melissa," Dr. Evans said.

"Hey," Melissa mumbled. Melissa wasn't in the mood to talk. Ever since she'd discovered terrifying about her past, she'd been despondent. She locked herself in her room as soon as she got home and watched MTV or OLN and worked on homework.

"What's wrong?" Dr. Evans asked, sounding genuinely worried.

"I think I found out something about myself," Melissa admitted. "And it worries me. But please, please don't tell my parents about my guess."

"Nothing you say will be repeated beyond this room," Dr. Evans promised.

"Okay. So, one day, I was coming downstairs with a few boxes of my things for the town house, when I heard Mom and Dad talking," Melissa began. "They were arguing. I wrote down some of the conversation.

"So, my mom said that they should tell me something. My dad said they should wait. And then, my mom said something really weird. She said, 'Melissa deserves to know who her parents are.' I was really confused, but then my dad said, 'Should we contact Elizabeth?', and to that Mom said, 'I think maybe we should. I want to see how she's holding up.' They agreed to call this 'Elizabeth'. I don't know how she's related to me, but she is, somehow. I know she is."

"That must be scary for you," Dr. Evans commented. "Try talking to your parents. I suggest finding out what they're talking about. You have the right to answers."

For the rest of the meeting, Melissa talked about how the town house was almost finished, and that she would be moving in within a month or so.

Melissa left for home. She immediately pulled her parents aside.

"I heard you last night," Melissa snarled. "Who's Elizabeth?"

"Who?" Mr. Hastings asked in confusion.

"I repeat," Melissa hissed, "_Who's Elizabeth_?"

"Melissa, this isn't the best time…" Mr. Hastings began.

"We agreed to tell her, right, Peter?" Mrs. Hastings interrupted.

"I suppose so," Mr. Hastings sighed.

"Melissa, twenty-four years ago, a day before you were born, we were contacted by a woman," Mrs. Hastings said. "She'd seen our ad on adoption websites. 'Have one child, desperate to have another'. I wanted Spencer to have a sister. Or a brother. So when I learned that Elizabeth was having a baby, we accepted her plea to adopt the child. On the day you were born, we snuck Elizabeth out of the hospital and claimed the baby as our own. We always treated you better so you would never feel cast out because of your parentage."

"What was Elizabeth's last name?" Melissa asked.

"Barnes," Mrs. Hastings replied. "And check out this paper. It's just like in the comic books."

Mrs. Hastings handed Melissa a copy of the _New York Times_.

**LONG-LOST SOLDIER RETURNS FROM THE DEAD**

**It was a great loss to learn that James "Bucky" Barnes had died during a train assault. Many mourners attended the funeral, including his sister, Sara Barnes, and her sister's daughter, Elizabeth, some of the only remaining members of Barnes' family, as well as Steve Rogers, now known as Captain America. Some have seen an assassin prowling the streets known simply as "The Winter Soldier", who was recently unmasked. This "Winter Soldier" was revealed to be Mr. Barnes himself, brainwashed as a Soviet assassin. Authorities are doing all they can to track down the Soviet Union that brainwashed Mr. Barnes and return Barnes to his former personality.**

"Holy shit," Melissa whispered. "My mom… is Bucky Barnes' niece? So that makes him my great-uncle! Holy shit!"

Melissa turned for the stairwell. "Melissa!" Mr. Hastings exclaimed as she bolted upstairs.

She flung one of her desk's drawers open and pulled out her wallet, which held some fifty-dollar bills and her credit cards. She pulled out her computer and went to the American Airlines website. She booked herself a flight from the Philadelphia International Airport that left in an hour to the John Kennedy International Airport in New York. Melissa entered her card's number, and, with a few more clicks, the flight was booked. Melissa was going to uncover her past.

Melissa packed a suitcase with two weeks' worth of clothes, and put her laptop in her computer bag along with her phone, iPod, and some snacks. She packed some books, CDs, and her makeup in her backpack. She ran back downstairs, taking them two at a time.

"Melissa!" Mrs. Hastings cried as Melissa swung the door open and slammed it in her parents' face. Melissa ran down the streets.

"Melissa!" Mr. Hastings shouted, but Melissa was already halfway down the street. "Get back here right now!" Melissa didn't pay any attention to her parents' yells.

Melissa paused as she looked behind to see Spencer running outside. "Melissa!" Spencer screamed. "Come back! Don't leave now!" In response to Spencer's plea, Melissa pulled out her phone and earbuds. She plugged them in and slid them in her ears. She turned her phone on and turned to a random song. It happened to be: Done by the Band Perry. Spencer screamed at her sister to come back, but Melissa put a thumbs-up for a taxi that was cruising down Melissa's street. She hopped in the cab.

"Penn Station, please," Melissa requested. She turned to look at her family. Her mother was frozen with shock. Her father was angry and was hugging a sobbing Spencer.


End file.
